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HE ANNEXATION OF HAWAII: A 
RIGHT AND A DUTY. 



AN ADDRESS 



HON. Harry Bingham, LL. D. 



DELIVERED BEFORE THE 



GRAFTON AND G008 BAR ASSOCIATION 



f OODSVILLE, N. H, JANUARY 28, 1898. 



CONCORD, N. H.: 

THE RUMFORb PRE55. 
1898. 



THE ANNEXATION OF HAWAII: A 
RIGHT AND A DUTY. 



A.N ADDRESS 



BY 
/ 

HON. HARRY BINGHAM, LL. D. 



DELIVERED BEFORE THE 



GRAFTON ftND G008 BAR ASSOCIATION 



fOODSVILLE, N. H., JANUARY 28, 1898. 



J, 11, XI. J 






CONCORD, N. H. : 

THE RUMFORb PRE55. 
1898. 



i (?50f^ 



1898 






THE ANNEXATION OF HAWAII: A RIGHT AND A 

DUTY. 



INTKODUCTORY ADDRESS BY 

HON. HARRY BmGHAM, LL. D., 

PKESIDEJSrX OF THE ASSOCIATION. 



Gentlemen of the Association : 

Our fifteenth anniversary has arrived and we will now 
enter upon its exercises. I give you a cordial greeting and 
bid you welcome here, trusting that we are all devoutly 
thankful for the divine care and mercy that have sustained 
us during the year and brought us once more together. 

I shall venture to address you upon the subject of Ha- 
waiian Annexation, although I am aware that it is a sub- 
ject about which there may be different opinions. I am 
convinced, however, that far-reaching consequences will 
affect our country for good or for ill accordingly as this 
subject is rightly or wrongly disposed of. Therefore I claim 
that we should study the subject, hear discussion upon it, 
and be prepared to give our influence, whatever it may be, in 
the right direction. Especially do I claim that upon ques- 
tions of this character the bar should be prepared to advise 
and act understandingly, and that every American citizen 
with intelligence sufficient to comprehend his duty as such 
citizen should expand his ideas and extend his vision beyond 
the attainment of mere partisan advantages. 

Some time ago I wrote a paper which discussed this ques- 



tion and as it has not been published I propose to use it 
ou the present occasion. There are some things in it which 
I might qualify or explain in the light of recent occur- 
rences, but I am entirely content that the grounds there 
taken should remain as they are and be considered the 
record of my judgment both as to what the situation is and 
as to what ought to be done. 

The subject of the paper to which I have referred is 
entitled " The Annexation of Hawaii : a Right and a 
Duty," and is discussed as follows : 

The annexation of the Hawaiian Islands to the United 
States is a matter that demands the serious consideration of 
the American people. It raises questions that ought not to 
be discussed and settled in a partisan spirit, but there 
should be honest inquiry and a judgment based upon con- 
viction of what is just and for the good of all concerned. 
In view of the present situation and the past relations 
between those islands, this country, and other countries, it 
seems strange that any enlightened American citizen should 
be found opposed to their annexation. Such an opponent 
cannot stand on the ground that our national constitution 
does not authorize us to receive additional territory. The 
right of the Federal government to receive additions to its 
territories has been established by numerous precedents. 
Since the adoption of the Federal Constitution, vast terri- 
tories from time to time have been added to the United 
States. According to our laws and according to our na- 
tional policy and practice, there can be no doubt that our 
government has the power to make a lawful acceptance of 
the proffered annexation. The offer is made to us by the 
government of Hawaii of its own motion, a government 
fully established and recognized by the United States and 
the other nations of the world as in the actual and rightful 
control of its people. The parties are competent to con- 
tract. It simply remains for us to accept or reject the 
offer, and in so doing to be governed by the duties we owe 



to ourselves, to the Hawaiian people, and to the rest of the 
world. Those islands lie much nearer to us and our con- 
tinent than they do to any other nation or continent. They 
belong to the American continent, and may properly be 
regarded as an appendage thereto. Steam and electricity 
make them comparatively near to our shores, and if the 
Nicaragua canal is built tlie}^ will be still nearer. Their 
climate is salubrious and mild, with only a slight difference 
between the extremes of heat and cold. Their soil is rich, 
producing sugar-cane, coffee, rice, and tropical fruits in 
abundance. The sides of their mountains afford excellent 
pasturage. Their value for agricultural and grazing pur- 
poses simply would make their annexation a valuable addi- 
tion to our territory. It is the testimony of competent en- 
gineers that those islands can be fortified easily, so as to be 
as impregnable to the assault of hostile navies as any of the 
numerous and costly fortifications which Great Britain has 
erected and maintains on the shores and islands of America. 
As a naval station for the defence of our Pacific coast, they 
would be invaluable. For many years last past this coun- 
try has had a great and profitable trade with those islands. 
They are so far Americanized now that annexation will be 
but one step further, and the great emigration from tliis 
country thither which would immediately follow annexation 
soon would complete the work of their assimilation to our 
ways and institutions. 

Ever since Hawaii became known to the civilized world 
our statesmen have contended that our interests there were 
paramount to those of all other nations, that we could not 
permit colonization or the exercise of control there by other 
countries, and that we favored the independence of the 
islands, but if their independence could not be maintained, 
then their ultimate destiny must be in our hands. To these 
contentions of our statesmen the world has yielded. We 
have practically controlled Hawaii for the last fifty years. 
Our missionaries have gone there. Christianized the natives, 



and settled there. Our men of affairs have gone there, 
taken the lead in all important matters, and out of barbar- 
ism have created civilization. Hawaii has been justl}^ called 
the key of the Pacific ocean, and as such key its value is 
ajiparent when we consider what a vast commerce in the 
future is sure to seek for itself a highwaj^ over the waters 
of that ocean. In that commerce our country ought to lead, 
and will if she is true to herself. The time has arrived 
when Hawaii, unable longer to endure without protection 
her isolated condition, has petitioned our government to be 
permitted to become a territory of the United States. The 
question is, Shall we grant this petition ? It has already 
been shown that the annexation of Hawaii would be an ac- 
quisition of great value. It has been said that he who will 
not provide for his own household is worse than an infidel ; 
and it may be added that the nation which will not look out 
for its own interests and make the welfare of its people as 
secure as possible is an imbecile and contemptible nation. 
In this age all nations except the United States are intent 
upon adding to their territories. Great Britain, France, 
Germany, and Russia are searching the remotest corners of 
the earth, and grasping new territory wherever they can do 
so with impunity. Lesser nations, in a smaller way, are 
doing the same thing. The United States alone seems to 
hesitate about adding to herself new territories, however 
desirable tliey may be. If we do refuse to allow the rich, 
desirable, and important Hawaiian Islands permission to 
become a part of our territory, it will be an act of utter 
recklessness and indifference in respect to our interests as a 
nation and our welfare as a people. It is certain that our 
duty to ourselves requires us to accept this offer. 

The next inquiry is. What are the duties we owe in this 
matter to the people of Hawaii and to the rest of the world ? 

Let us first consider our duty to the people of Hawaii. 
Their islands are situated where all the great nations of the 
world desire a foothold. They have stood alone and inde- 



pendent until their position has grown so important that 
they realize they cannot stand alone any longer, and that 
they must ally themselves with some strong power. They 
have selected as that strong power the United States, the 
nearest to them of all nations, not only geographically but 
in every respect. They received from the United States 
Christianity and everything else that tends to distinguish 
them as they now are from the savages discovered by Cap- 
tain Cook in 1778. Hawaii turns to the United States for 
protection as a child turns to its father. It is hard to con- 
ceive of a moral obligation stronger than the one that rests 
on us to accept this offer. All, or at least some, of the 
enemies of annexation say that "they never will consent that 
Hawaii should become a part of this country," and with the 
same breath they announce that " they will never permit 
any other nation to colonize or control it or be allied with 
it, and that, though weak and helpless, Hawaii must stand 
alone and independent." No reasonable man can consider 
such treatment of Hawaii as this to be humane and just. 
If the people of the United States have become indifferent 
to their own interests, and if they are determined to ignore 
all the claims that the people of Hawaii have upon them, 
then their only honest course is to say in response to this 
application, " No, we will not take you ; go seek protection 
elsewhere." 

The importance of Hawaii as a coaling station for all the 
shipping of the Pacific ocean, whether commercial or naval, 
is obvious. In our hands the aid that it would afford us in 
protecting our extended Pacific coast, would be of immense 
value. In the hands of an enemy with a naval power, it 
would be a constant menace to us. Navies and armies 
could be safely congregated there for raiding the Pacific 
coast and for the invasion and occupation of our Pacific 
states. Mr. Blaine called Hawaii " the key of the Pacific 
ocean." These facts in the past have caused our secreta- 
ries of state, among whom were Daniel Webster, William 



8 

L. Marcy, and James G. Blaine, to declare in their official 
capacity that the United States has such an interest in 
Hawaii that she can never allow any other nation to colo- 
nize or control it ; and now it is on account of these facts 
that the enemies of annexation are compelled to qualify 
their declaration that they will not consent that Hawaii 
should be annexed to this country, by the further declara- 
tion that she must not be colonized or controlled by any 
other country ; that she must stand alone, independent, and 
guard the key of the Pacific unaided. In view of all the 
circumstances it is unnecessary to say that such a response 
actually made to the petition of Hawaii would be most 
unreasonable and brutal. It would undoubtedly result in 
compelling her to throw herself into the arms of some 
other power. Other powers know the value of Hawaii, 
and if they could get it would consider it a great acquisi- 
tion. England would have taken possession of it long ago 
if our statesmen had not objected on the ground of our para- 
mount interest. England has yielded to our claim and will 
make no objection if we at3cept the offer of annexation. But 
if we reject the offer and Hawaii then offers herself to Eng- 
land, England will surely accept. Our protests, grounded 
on paramount interests, will then be disregarded. England 
could then reply to us, when we made such protests, and 
say justly, "Your conduct shows that you have no such 
interest. These islands need protection and they asked you 
for it and you refused to give it. If you had any interest 
in the islands you abandoned it when you refused to give 
them protection. You cannot succeed in this dog-in-the- 
manger policy, refusing to do a thing necessary and proper 
to be done and prohibiting everybody else from doing it. 
Hawaii asked you for protection. You refused to give it. 
She now asks us for protection. We shall give it." 

We may be assured that when we renounce Hawaii 
England will take it and hold us to our renunciation. 

Japan, emerging from semi-barbarism and in the morning 



twilight of her civilization, peering across the vast waters 
of the Pacific, sees and appreciates the importance of Ha- 
waii. She construed the treatment that President Harri- 
son's treaty of annexation received and the chivalrous 
course that President Cleveland took in behalf of the de- 
posed queen to be evidence that the United States didn't 
care for Hawaii and would have nothing to do with it. In 
that view, Japan has caused her people to emigrate in great 
numbers to Hawaii with the evident purpose of obtaining 
ultimately the control of the islands. This purpose was so 
repugnant and became so patent to the Hawaiian govern- 
ment that it prohibited recently any further landing on its 
soil of emigrants from Japan. The inhabitants of Hawaii 
of American or European origin, and its inhabitants of 
aboriginal origin, who are all Christians, will not submit 
voluntarily to be governed and controlled by Japan whose 
people are still pagans and idolaters. There is little doubt 
that if we refuse to take Hawaii she will not go to Japan 
but she will tender herself to England and be accepted. 
Our country, then, in the eyes of all other countries will be 
estopped from making any objections and in our own eyes 
we shall be so estopped by every consideration of right and 
justice. The time has arrived when we must either accept 
the offer of Hawaii and annex it or repudiate the rights we 
have hitherto asserted over it and relinquish all claim to 
control its destiny. 

The acquiescence of other nations heretofore in our ex- 
ercise of control over the islands and in our asserted right 
to permanent control over them was a virtual contract on 
our part with those nations that we would continue perma- 
nently to maintain such control, and that they could deal 
with us thereafter for the accommodation which their com- 
merce on the Pacific ocean might require at those islands. 
If we should reject the proffered annexation we shall not 
be able to do what the various nations of the world have a 
right to expect us to do for them. The acquisition of 



10 

Hawaii by England would give her another impregnable posi- 
tion near the shores of America from which she could easily 
assail and plunder our Pacific cities or land on our coasts 
an invading army. 

Various objections have been urged against the annexa- 
tion of Hawaii, all of which on investigation will be found 
to be either irrational or frivolous. It has been objected 
that the islands are too far out in the ocean and that it will 
cost us much labor and money to defend them. In reply 
we will call attention to what we have already shown, viz. : 
that Hawaii is of vast strategical importance ; that it is the 
key of the Pacific ocean ; that in our hands it is a point of 
infinite value for defence ; and that in the hands of an 
enemy it is a point where he could aggregate his resources 
in security and with great facility raid or invade our Pacific 
states. Some of the oj^ponents of annexation, when hard 
pushed for arguments, have assumed that the educated and 
Christian Hawaiian natives are not represented by their 
government and that they are opposed to having their 
country become a part of the United States. Appeals are 
made to the sympathies of the American people not to com- 
pel by superior force these contented and intelligent natives 
against their wishes to become citizens of our country. 
There is no evidence that the native Hawaiians are opposed 
to becoming such citizens ; on the contrary, whatever their 
feelings may be towards their existing government, the 
evidence is that they favor annexation to the United States. 
All agree that these native Hawaiians are educated and 
intelligent. They know what their situation is and what it 
will be if they become American citizens. The assertion 
that they are really opposed to annexation to the United 
States is not only without proof but it is without the prob- 
ability of truth. 

Another objection is that we want no more territory; that 
if we take Hawaii it will be a precedent for taking Cuba 
and Canada, if they should be hereafter offered to us, and 



11 

that we want no more territory, however valuable it may be 
or however just and reasonable it may be that we should 
take it. This objection involves the consideration of mat- 
ters of vital importance to the well being of our people. It 
is certainly important that a nation should keep open all the 
avenues in which its people can escape from inertia and 
sloth and get a training that develops their mental and 
physical powers and qualifies them to do effective work for 
the elevation and improvement of their country. Our com- 
merce and shipping that once found their way over all the 
waters of the globe, that rivalled and threatened to surpass 
the commerce and shipping of Great Britain, are now gone. 
The schools of seamanship thus furnished kept the energies 
of our people alive, developed their brawn, intellect, and 
courage, and fitted them for valorous deeds. Our country 
was then full of hardy, brave, and patriotic seamen, but 
now it is with difficulty that seamen enough are found to 
man our infant navy. We have grown so much afraid of 
the salt water that in this age of steam, when in a little 
space of time oceans are crossed, our people are importuned 
to reject the annexation of islands belonging to our conti- 
nent because they are a little way out at sea. Formerly 
our millionaires were merchants, such as Girard, Gray, and 
John Jacob Astor, who accumulated their millions by gi- 
gantic commercial enterprises carried on over the waters of 
the world. Now our millionaires accumulate their millions 
by creating gigantic monopolies and trusts and by wreck- 
ing railroads. The whaling business has been a great 
school for developing in our young men hardihood, daring, 
and energetic habits. That school also is closed, probably 
never to be opened again. Our people can hardly be said 
to carry on the fishing business with the vigor of former 
days. In fair competition they scarcely keep even with 
Canadian fishermen and seal-catchers. The whalingf busi- 
ness died out by reason of inevitable changes. The tame 
ness of our fishermen comes from our general decay in sea- 



12 

going energy. Our commerce and shipping have dwindled 
to their present im^Dotent condition by reason of restrictive 
navigation laws and prohibitory tariffs. The only avenue 
now open that leads to what will preserve the energy and 
enterprise of our people and keep them in the line of na- 
tional progress is the avenue that leads to new lands where 
by toil and hardship the wilderness can be subdued and in 
its stead civilization planted. This avenue, if no more ter- 
ritory is to be added to our national domain, is now also 
practically.closed. The last of our good settling lands were 
taken up when Oklohoma was organized and opened up for 
settlement. The tremendous rush of stalwart humanity to 
get a foothold on the virgin soil of Oklohoma afforded a 
glimpse of the mighty forces that have made for us so many 
great and prosperous states out of what a little while ago 
was a howling wilderness. In the past the energy, muscle, 
and brains of the country cultivated, developed, and em- 
ployed in whaling, in the fisheries, in ocean commerce, and 
in the settlement of new territories have made the United 
States a great and powerful nation. And now whaling be- 
ing a dead industry, the fisheries in a decline, no prospect 
of a restoration of our lost commerce and shipping, and our 
lands suitable for settlement all taken, the opponents of 
Hawaiian annexation come to the front and say that there 
must not be any more territory annexed to the United 
States. If this interdict against more territory is estab- 
lished and the United States forever limited to their present 
boundaries, while existing conditions in other respects re- 
main, then the sooner our people cease their activities, re- 
tire within their shells and go to seed, the better. Wlien a 
nation closes up all its avenues that lead to enterprise and 
progress, it has made preparation for death, and thereafter- 
wards the sooner it passes to inertia and sloth and suffers 
itself quietly to be consumed by dry rot, the easier it will 
sink into nonentity and be forgotten. In such a case, how- 
ever, energetic habits that can find no legitimate vent will 



13 

be liable to break out in criminal disorder and hurry the 
nation's death by rioting, havoc, and destruction. Already 
so many of the avenues in which our national energies have 
operated hitherto have been either closed or obstructed that 
symptoms of decay and disorder thereby occasioned have 
been manifested. There has been a falling off among our 
people in the reliance that the individual has upon himself. 
There is a growing disposition to seek paternal aid from 
the government. The capitalist embarked in a business 
venture, wants legislation that will insure him liis profits. 
The farmer asks the government to loan him money with 
which to lift his mortgage. Recently an army recruited 
from the unemployed and headed by General Coxey marched 
on Washington, demanding of Congress that it should enact 
measures which would give them employment. Discontent 
and uneasiness, generated by idle energies, pervade the 
multitude. It is certain that this country will fall into 
premature decay and wither away long before it has reached 
its prime, unless the forces that have built it up to its pres- 
ent magnitude are kept employed. We must not heed the 
voice that says, " Let us stop here, keep what we have got, 
and proceed no farther." We cannot stand still. We must 
advance or we shall certainly retrograde. Any lullaby 
about feasting on what we have and working no more is 
luring us to destruction. We have only one alternative. 
We must either advance on the lines that Washing'ton, 
Jefferson, and our great statesmen have marked out and on 
which we have hitherto proceeded or fall back amid shame, 
disorder, and misery, and take the road that leads to final 
extinction. 

The age of our country is a little more than a century. 
Comparatively speaking, England is very old, whether her 
age is reckoned from the withdrawal of the Roman legions 
and the Anglo-Saxon occupation in the fifth century or from 
the Norman conquest in the 11th century ; yet through all 
the ages of her national existence she has constantly been 



14 

augmenting her energies by keeping them actively em- 
ployed, and to-day she is more aggressive and progressive 
than ever before. England commenced her career as a 
nation with a section of the island of Great Britain. 
In the course of time she annexed Wales and Ireland 
by conquest, and Scotland by treaty. She has extended her 
empire by conquest over almost half of the continent of 
North America. She has conquered and maintains domin- 
ion over the immense empire of India. She holds undis- 
puted sway over innumerable islands scattered everywhere, 
lying in all the waters and zones of the globe and varying 
in size from an island of continental dimensions with mil- 
lions of square miles down to an island containing but a 
few acres. England possesses more or less territory on all 
the grand divisions of the globe and she boasts with truth 
that the sun never sets on her dominions. She is never 
scrupulous about the right when she can take with impu- 
nity. She colonizes all her territories that are vacant, or 
only roamed over by savage tribes, and English speaking 
people are rapidly multiplying throughout her dominions. 
She has torn down all the barriers to trade that she has 
ever erected, and urges trade on everybody. All the known 
avenues of trade are kept wide open and search for new 
ones is constantly made. The activities and energies of her 
merchants, cultivated and developed by their vast opportu- 
nities, have monopolized the commerce of the world and ex- 
tended their traffic into the remotest seas and to all land. 
Trade vigilantly sought after and prosecuted everywhere 
and colonization of all parts of the earth steadily carried 
on, have fostered the spirit of enterprise in the British 
people and caused them continually to grow in hardihood, 
vigor, and intelligence. The same forces that have enabled 
modern England to surpass her former self in bold seaman- 
ship, daring adventure, and brilliant exploits have developed 
and strengthened the intellect of her people and given her 
energetic, far-seeing statesmen. Englishmen know and 



15 

cherish the sources of their greatness. They also appre- 
ciate their faithful servants and treat with clue respect the 
rulers who dignify and give charactei" to the nation. Wit- 
ness the honors recently paid to their very worthy queen. 

England is not cited as an example for our imitation, but 
as an example for us to study and by such study to be 
profited. She has kept open every avenue where it was 
possible for her people to find employment, and as a conse- 
quence her people have always been characterized by thrift 
and industry, her laborers contented and her soldiers brave. 
Her navies control the seas, her merchants hold the com- 
merce of the world, and her cabinet is ruled by strong, 
brainy men. The example of England teaches us what we 
ought and what we ought not to do. It teaches us that we 
ought to open up to our people all the avenues to employ- 
ment of which we can obtain rightful control, and on the 
other hand it teaches us to shun the wrongs of England in 
seizing territory without right and extending trade by undue 
means. The lesson taught us by the example of England 
ought also to teach us to realize what supreme folly it 
would be for us to refuse the offer of a territory which we 
can rightfully take, and which is of great value to us, not 
only for its intrinsic worth, but for its position and the se- 
curity its possession would afford our country. 

It has been asserted that if Hawaii was made a territory 
of the United States it could not be governed, that Con- 
gress has not power to govern it as a territory, and that it is 
not fit to be made a state. This assertion is the assertion 
of one who either wilfully misstates or is grossly misin- 
formed. Congress is authorized expressly by the consti- 
tution to govern the territories and has always exercised 
that power with perfect submission thereto ever since the 
government was organized. It has used its strong arm 
whenever necessary for the preservation of wholesome rule 
in the territories. In Utah it uprooted and abolished po- 
lygamy, planted and defended there by the stubborn power 



16 

of religious fanaticism. Christianity was introduced into 
Hawaii two or three generations ago, and the living de- 
scendants of its aboriginal inhabitants have been reared 
and trained as christians. They can read and write and 
are of a peaceable, law-abiding disposition. The Chinese 
and Japanese now resident in Hawaii are mere laborers, 
and if the United States laws are extended over it their 
further immigration will be restricted. A slight considera- 
tion sliows the absurdity of the claim that Congress, with 
its ample powers, will find any difficulty in governing 
Hawaii, because of a small civilized remnant of the abor- 
igines, or on account of a few laborers from China and 
Japan. The further fact that Congress would not be au- 
thorized to admit Hawaii as a state, until in its judgment 
she was fit to become a member of our family of states, 
ought to quiet all apprehension of any bad result from her 
annexation. Fears have been expressed that our country 
is extending its boundaries too far for safety, as it respects 
•external defense and internal harmony. The only mode of 
<ieterraining whether or not such fears are well grounded, 
is to canvass without prejudice the situation as it is. In 
regard to external defense there can be no reasonable ap- 
prehension that any nation of the western hemisphere can 
make a dangerous assault upon us. We have reason to fear 
danger from Europe and possibly from Japan. We cannot 
avoid anxiety so long as European fortresses like Esqui- 
mault and Bermuda, bristling with cannon are seen along 
the coasts and on the islands of America. There will be 
reasonable ground to fear European encroachments until 
both the Americas and the islands appertaining to them are 
freed from European dominion. When the nations of the 
western world possess all its mainland and islands, our 
country will be reasonably secure from either European or 
Asiatic invasion. History shows that evolutionary changes 
among nations are constantly going on, that their territorial 
limits are changed, that new nations are formed and old 



nations transformed, or wiped out altogether. It is not im- 
possible or even improbable that the time is not far distant, 
when the several territories belonging to the independent 
nations of the western hemisphere will embrace the entire 
American continent and its islands, freed from all claim of 
either European or Asiatic domination. The statesmen of 
all the different countries of America, recognizing the com- 
mon interest in such a consummation, while observing all 
their obligations may be expected to acquiesce with satis- 
faction in events that tend toward establishing the inde- 
pendence of any American country now subject to Eu- 
ropean power. It is not to be expected that their states- 
men will put any obstacles in the way of those evolutionary 
changes which tend to emancipate the entire western hemi- 
sphere from monarchic and despotic rule. We cannot re- 
fuse to annex territory when we thereby strengthen our- 
selves and bless the people we take, and when we also 
spread republican institutions, and make the external de- 
fenses of our own and all other American republics more 
secure. 

As it respects the suggestion that a further annexation of 
territory to the United States will destroy internal harmony 
and pave the way for a disruption of the federal union, a 
consideration of the character of our government shows 
that this objection does not rest upon a good foundation. A 
consolidated government, extending over a vast area, and 
embracing a great variety of climate and production can be 
administered only with great difficulty and will be liable to 
fall to pieces at any moment. No such thing as liberty can 
exist in a broad empire containing a variety of different con- 
ditions as respects climate, people, and production , if it is 
governed absolutely in all matters throughout its entire 
boundaries by a central power. In such a case the govern- 
ing power in order to be effective must be a despotism, stern 
and relentless, and even then its hold will be precarious. 
The people will hate it and revolution will always be immi- 



18 

nent. Its extension ov'er move territory will render its hold 
still more precarious. The government of the United States 
is a government of a character altogether different. The 
federal government is the central power, and its authority is 
limited to matters that concern all the states alike, such as 
declaring war, making treaties, and regulating commerce, 
while each state is in full control of all its local and domes- 
tic matters. The federal government can command the 
entire resources of the country in its defense and in the 
maintenance of its honor. The several states, each inde- 
pendent of the other, as sovereign states, exercise all the 
powers appertaining to government except the powers dele- 
gated to the United States. The people of each state 
are left to govern themselves by themselves and for them" 
selves in all matters of local concern, and in all those matters 
about which the citizen takes cognizance in his daily life. 
Our people are free, attached to their government, and are 
resolved to maintain it. No government on earth is stronger 
than ours. Our government will remain strong and our 
people will be free just so long as the federal powers and the 
reserved powers of the states are each exercised in accor* 
dance with the provisions of the constitution. The federal 
union, by its delegated "powers, protects the nation from for. 
eign aggression and secures the general welfare. The states 
by their reserved powers protect the people from the tyr. 
anny of centralization and secure individual liberty. The 
federal union has not been weakened by the vast territories 
acquired and the many new states that have been admitted 
into it since its formation. On the contrary without doubt 
it has been strengthened thereby, and, but for these acquisi- 
tions, might not now be in existence. In a union embracing 
a great many different states, each with its peculiar views 
and interests, a common ground of disaffection is not likely 
to exist over states enough to inaugurate a successful re- 
bellion. So long as our union answers the purposes for which 
it was created, all parts of it will be attached to it, and will 



19 

render it substantial support. The more extensive it is, the 
more powerful will it be, and the greater will be the diffi- 
culty that designing men will have in making combinations 
sufficient to overthrow it or even endanger it. New states 
might be admitted into our union until the whole continent 
of North America is embraced within its limits, with good 
results, provided that such additional new states contain a 
population who appreciate its blessings and are devoted to 
its maintenance. Congress, to the extent of its constitu- 
tional authority, could legislate for the union, limited only 
by the boundaries of North America, just as well as it can 
legislate for the union as it is now bounded. All the states, 
both old and new, could exercise their reserved powers, each 
in its own way, and render due obedience to the general gov- 
ernment just the same, whatever the territorial limits of the 
union might be. It is not suggested that we go on annex- 
ing territory indiscriminately without considering the char, 
acter of the annexations we make, but it is intended to be 
asserted tliat our government and institutions are such that 
they can be extended over additional territory without 
impairing their successful operation, and that the admission 
of new states into the union until it reaches far beyond its 
present limits will give strength and not weakness to the 
body politic. It is further intended to be asserted that we 
need additional territory in order that our people may find 
the employment and get the discipline necessary for the 
development, strengthening, and preservation of their ener 
gies, and in order that our progress as a nation may not be 
arrested. 

Hawaii is offered to us under such circumstances that we 
can rightfully accept it. All of our people agree that it is of 
great importance to us, that our interest in it is paramount 
to that of any other nation, and that we must not lose con- 
trol of it or suffer it to pass into the possession of any other 
power. We know that other powers are desirous of pos- 
sessing it, and but for their recognition of our right, some of 



20 

them would have taken possession of it long ago. We know 
that Hawaii is utterly unable to protect itself, and for us, in 
view of all the circumstances that surround the question, to 
refuse this offer would be something worse than folly, — it 
would be madness. 

It has been objected that the annexation of Hawaii will 
require us to augment our navy and to become a strong naval 
power. This objection assumes that if we do not annex 
Hawaii, we shall not need an augmented navy and will never 
have occasion to become a strong naval power. Nothing 
can be further from the truth than this assumption. The 
nations of the world are vying with each other in the con- 
struction of monster iron-clad ships, armed with all the ter- 
rific modern implements of destruction. To-day a nation is 
feared and rated as a power of the first, second, third, fourth, 
or fifth magnitude, or of no magnitude at all, according to the 
number and size of the iron-clad ships she can put into im- 
mediate and effective service. If the United States desires 
to maintain herself in the eyes of the world as a strong 
power she must have a strong navy. In this age, neither 
population nor wealth nor anything counts towards creating 
a wholesome respect for a nation that is without a strong 
navy. Already all the leading nations of the globe except 
our own are armed and prepared for war with iron-clad ships 
and engines of destruction not known or dreamed of in any 
former age. Years of labor and skill have been expended 
in constructing and perfecting each one of these ships and 
engines. The best intellects have been constantly employed 
in the invention and improvement of instruments of havoc 
and death. England, France, Germany, and Russia have 
already partitioned and divided between themselves the great 
continent of Africa, the islands of Polynesia, and the largest 
part of tlie vast continent of Asia. Soon that part of Asia 
not now thus disposed of will be appropriated in like man- 
ner, and then those nations will be ready to give their undi- 
vided attention to the American continent. When that time 



21 

arrives and they proceed to partition, divide, and appropriate 
to themselves the American continent, what will become of 
the Monroe doctrine ? What can we do or say about it ? 
Unless we then possess a powerful navy, the Monroe doctrine 
will be heard of no more, and we can do nothing nor say 
anything that will be heeded. South America, the West 
India islands. Central America, and Mexico will be disposed 
of easily, and our rich cities and prosperous states will fur- 
nish luxurious feasting where the territorial gormandizers of 
Europe can gorge themselves with impunity. 

But upon the other hand, let the United States then pos- 
sess a powerful navy, and Hawaii well fortified, with reason- 
able protection for our Atlantic coast, the Monroe doctrine 
will be respected. We shall be safe in the enjoyment of 
our national independence, have a standing among the 
nations of the earth, and be able to exercise a wholesome 
influence upon the world. 

It is idle to deny what is plainly indicated by the signs of 
the times. The tremendous and continuous rivalry among 
nations, every one striving with all its might to be foremost 
in the magnitude of its preparation for war has a meaning. 
It is not fun, it is business. It means that this immense 
preparation is to be utilized, and that either with or without 
the actual clash of arms the nations that are prepared for 
war are going to dominate and control all nations and people 
that are not so prepared. A numerous population and vast 
wealth without corresponding protection will invite the in- 
vader. Whether we annex Hawaii or refuse so to do, it is 
certain that our standing in the world cannot be maintained 
in the future nor our national existence be secure except we 
possess a strong navy. 

It is also certain for reasons already given that the annex- 
ation of Hawaii would greatly augment the national prestige 
and security that a strong navy would give us, and at the 
same time add much to the efficiency and usefulness of such 
a navy in guarding our coasts. 



22 

There is another objection to the annexation of Hawaii, 
coming from that part of the country which has engaged or 
proposes to engage in the cultivation of the sugar beet. It 
is claimed that the great amount of cane sugar that Hawaii 
would produce if annexed would ruin the sugar beet indus- 
try. The miserably selfish few who make this objection 
admit in the very terms in which they make it that they are 
clamoring in behalf of an insignificant interest of their own 
against the welfare of the whole country. They denounce 
the measure because they fear it will enable the American 
people to get their sugar from their own territory at a low 
cost and thereby diminish the chances for profits in the 
sugar beet experiment. As a reason for opposing annexa- 
tion, they assign a strong reason for its consummation. The 
patriot for his country's good will sacrifice his private ad- 
vantages. The man who will injure his country to profit his 
private interests and the traitor are made of the same stuff. 
For pelf either will sell his country. At all events the 
worth of a citizen who for selfish considerations will sacri- 
fice the welfare of his country may be estimated at a low 
figure, and it may be safely calculated that those who oppose 
the annexation of Hawaii are either ignorant of the situa- 
tion or on account of some selfish motive are hostile to the 
general good. Perhaps after all we ought not to be sur- 
prised because the proposition to annex Hawaii meets with 
opposition. 

Judging by the past, we must expect some opposition 
however strong in favor of annexation the case may be. It 
will be remembered that there were Tories in the American 
Revolution, and that ever since our national existence began 
down to the present time we have had those among us who 
have clamored violently against the adoption of every 
measure, which, when adopted, has contributed to the growth 
and prosperity of the country. 



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